Forget all this ‘bad cycling’ nonsense, it’s a drop in the ocean compared with the devastation caused by bad driving/road accidents. Hundreds of thousands of accidents every year on Britain’s roads, and thousands of deaths.

Speeding, lack of awareness of other road users, failing to indicate, cars in unroadworthy condition, influence of drugs and alcohol, distraction by ‘phones, sat-navs etc.

The vast majority of people out there have little more than very basic driving skills. Some of them are so inept they are a danger to others. Most of them think they are good drivers however, so don’t consider what risks they themselves pose.

So what’s the answer/s?

Lower powered cars for young/new drivers? Multi-stage tests, so you have to pass a certain level to be able to drive a more powerful car? Tougher penalties for those who cause accidents? Ban all non-essential car ownership?

Play nice. I’m off for a swim.

X

Very troll

He even said as much in the last line.

How disappointed will he be on return if there are only a couple of posts and no argument?

Well we have schemes in place to deal with it. Traffic law, licensing and fines points bans.

The answer – tougher enforcement and mandatory retesting periodically

I blame the driving instructors.

You may think so, Mung-Bean, but people blether on about relatively isolated cases of bad cycling, yet every single time I am on the road, I witness bad driving. I have to be on my wits at all times, lest I become the victim of some idiot in a car.

So, not a troll at all. I’d genuinely like to know why folk kick up a fuss over some knob on a push bike, when a far greater problem is millions of knobs in motor vehicles.

How disappointed will he be on return if there are only a couple of posts and no argument?

I woon’t be surprised at all, TBH. People are very quick to criticise the behaviour of others, yet not so quick to examine their own behaviour, or consider that they themselves are actually part of a problem. Always someone else’s fault, when it comes to driving…

Make everyone speed.

I tend to be far more alert when driving too fast as I am watching out for the police.

Can we get the mods to delete this thread and pretend that it led to a huge row and so got removed?

Compulsory retests ever five years would help – amazing how many people round here seem to have no idea what the speed limit is (toddling along the dual carriageway at 40-50mph) and don’t know how to go around a roundabout properly (start in the left lane, swing across 3 lanes into the middle of the roundabout, get to exit, swing back across 3 lanes) 😯

They should be forced to drive with you in the passenger seat.

If they continue to offend then TJ & Cynic-Al go in the back seats.

Ban all non-essential car ownership?

Dunno about that, but my utopia would be walking, bikes, rickshaws, Taxis and Busses only in city/town centres. Rise in car clubs. Private vehicles banned from on street parking. Better free parking provision.

Some jobs require cars. A district nurse needs to get about to homebound patients etc. A tradesman needs to lug his tools and materials around. You don’t need 90% of the populace driving their own cars about for every journey.

get rid of speedometers and speed limits. drive at whatever speed you feel is safe.

I’d genuinely like to know why folk kick up a fuss over some knob on a push bike, when a far greater problem is millions of knobs in motor vehicles.

Mostly it’s all about perceived rights. As in cars have more right to use the road. And the ‘your holding me up’ thing.

You may think so, Mung-Bean, but people blether on about relatively isolated cases of bad cycling, yet every single time I am on the road, I witness bad driving. I have to be on my wits at all times, lest I become the victim of some idiot in a car.

Then you must be at a real disadvantage having to go out there only half prepared all the time.

So, not a troll at all. I’d genuinely like to know why folk kick up a fuss over some knob on a push bike, when a far greater problem is millions of knobs in motor vehicle

‘cos that knob is usually you and folks would kick up a fuss over you no matter what form of transport you used?

I like driving cars in much the same way I like riding bikes.

Why ban my fun?

Better public transport would probably help. By that I mean cheaper and more extensive.

Just ban people from leaving the house. Problem solved. The amount of posting some people do on here, I suspect this sanction has already ben applied 😉

The Spanish know how to deal with this sort of thing [and Contador’s doping] by simply acquitting them because ‘that can’t be right’

http://www.euroweeklynews.com/news/costa-blanca-south/skilled-drunk-driver-acquitted.html

Its easy.

Year 1: Insurance companies provide a black box (possibly at a fixed cost) to the driver in return for a substantial reduction on their policy. Said box contains a simple camera that records say 12hrs rolling footage whenever the ignition is on. Stores date when a collision is sensed or when the driver pushes a button.

Year 2: Insurance companies make it a standard requirement and increase premium if you opt out.

Year 3: Becomes compulsory.

I use an app on my phone which just records footage in a continuous loop until it detects an impact or I tell it to save it. That, combined with a company GPS tracker has improved my driving no end. I wasn’t an idiot before but did tend to speed a bit outside built up areas, and although I don’t get ‘the rage’ I would show my disgust to other drivers if I though they deserved it, which occasionally results in a reaction such as return gestures or brake checking etc.

Don’t get any of that anymore, more relaxed, find myself cruising along at 56 in the inside lane rather than charging down the outside lane at a speed limited 70mph, and I even manage to ignore blatant cutting up and people causing you to brake hard by pulling out in front of you. The only downside is by retiring from the fast lane, the middle lane hogs become a much bigger obstacle 🙂

Good driving.

Flying cars

A public service advertisement campaign, on all the channels and in cinemas.

Ad 1 – how to indicate on roundabouts.

Ad 2 – motorway lane discipline.

Ad 3 – vulnerable road user awareness.

Ad 4 – speed kills.

You get the drift…

You get the drift…

Good idea, we should have an advert on how to drift too…it would make the morning much more interesting if everyone could get the back end sliding round roundabouts.

CharlieMungus – Member

Flying cars

I’m not convinced you’re taking this seriously;

And one for Phil…

mandatory kiddie trailers behind each car, containing driver’s first born.

And the spike on the driving wheel.

All company owned or paid for vehicles to have the companies name on the back and sides, a quick phonecal to the boss usually slows them down.

Ban women drivers between 8.30 and 09.10 daily and between 3.00and 4.00.

Make all children catch a bus to school,or walk or even cycle on the quieter roads.

Fill in all recessed bus laybys.

Stricter enforcement of speeding.

Cheaper rail and bus fares.

get rid of speedometers and speed limits. drive at whatever speed you feel is safe

Yeah cos that really works in Germany doesn’t it? 🙄

Every driven on a country lane? They are effectively unlimited because 60mph is usually unattainable. And people drive terribly on them and there are plenty of accidents.

More enforcement – more cops, better powers for them to slap something on you based on video evidence.

They should be forced to drive with you in the passenger seat.

If they continue to offend then TJ & Cynic-Al go in the back seats.

No chance – I think you’ll find that contravenes the Geneva Convention for Human Rights.

I think you’ll find that contravenes the Geneva Convention for Human Rights.

Torture? 🙂

there is a gadget being fitted more and more in the states that records video 30 seconds each side of a crash or emergency stop. Thats a good idea IMO

http://www.roadhawk.co.uk/car-black-box-recorder.html

Then you must be at a real disadvantage having to go out there only half prepared all the time.

‘cos that knob is usually you and folks would kick up a fuss over you no matter what form of transport you used?

Nice. Just resorting to personal insults rather than actually attempting to think about the question. How very grown-up. 🙄

Seems to be a bit of a taboo subject, challenging bad driving. No-one wants to admit they are a bad driver, but most of them are.

This video Dez posted on TJ’s thread shows an incident that is typical of urban driving, and something I witness virtually every single time I use my bike on the roads.

Yet one fixie twit being a knob raises mass hysteria….

Well you started the name calling, were you doing it in a grow-up way?

Raise petrol prices so people can’t afford to drive.

Oh, looks like the government is already doing this, awesome!

Traffic policing became ‘unfashionable’ some time ago. Due to budget constraints (not cuts mind, but the way money was allocated) many Police forces, mainly county forces, had to adopt a ‘double hatting’ approach to the utilisation of traffic cops. Traffic policing is a very complex area of law, which seems to have more legislation than actual crime and disorder; hence the reason specific traffic departments existed.

Most police gaffers know that the home office and the public wouldn’t readily accept the wholesale disbandment of traffic, so formed what are often called ‘Roads Policing’, or ‘Roads Crime Units’, under the premise that “these officers do far more than mere traffic policing”. E.g. “Policing the county’s roads for criminals on the move”, “educating the public in driver and roads safety”, “investigating fatal & life altering RTC’s”, and the worst of all “supporting local officers with attendance at immediate incidents”. I say worst because everyone is always short staffed with not enough bobbies to attend the number of incidents being reported, meaning ex-traffic cops are always tied up at domestics etc.

Basically, what this meant is that budgets were re-allocated, specialist cops were de-skilled, and the roads in many areas of the UK are now left un-policed. This is what we’re now seeing – driving standards are definitely falling, despite crippling fuel prices traffic volume is rising; virtually nobody is doing anything about it.

Well you started the name calling, were you doing it in a grow-up way?

Did I? Well, just cos I’m immature and childish is no excuse for you to act the same…

Interesting post, Mildred.

Unfortunately, there is no answer to bad driving that allows for the continuing use of motor vehicles. There is something about being in an enclosed box, with masses of instant power and speed available to a person, that drives people temporarily psychopathic. Motor vehicles are inherently anti social. Various studies have shown that we can no longer communicate non verbally over 30mph. We lose empathy for others. I’ve seen the most placid, peaceable people get angry and frustrated in cars, almost every time I get a lift in a car the driver breaks the speed limits.

The problem is endemic, and only a full scale and permanent shift away from motoring will stop it. We need to reduce speed limits, increase enforcement of traffic law, raise oil prices, reduce parking spaces massively, pedestrianise urban centres: we need a real war on motoring.

But then I’m a hippy who rides bikes everywhere, what do I know.

If everyone had a couple of pints before they got behind the wheel they would feel much more relaxed and confident, which would surely help.

The problem lies in people’s perception of their ‘rights’.

I’d like to see a fixed number of cars allowed, with businesses and private users given a ‘passport’ type thing which allows them to use the road. Rather like the carbon credit thing in the states, businesses could trade the passports as needed.

Any traffic violation would see the suspension or removal of the passport as well as criminal proceedings were necessary.

The problem is endemic, and only a full scale and permanent shift away from motoring will stop it. We need to reduce speed limits, increase enforcement of traffic law, raise oil prices, reduce parking spaces massively, pedestrianise urban centres: we need a real war on motoring.

Interestingly, I think most of this is already being done by the back door, but so gradually that folk simply adapt as time goes on. For example, quite a few towns and cities are adopting the parking fees scheme, that levies a charge on companies for each parking space.

I personally don’t agree that speed limits need reducing. True, some people seem to consider the limit to be the minimum, but if you look at most urban environments there is so much traffic that everyone creeps along anyway. Just as painful to the daily commuter are the drivers who creep along in the outer lanes even when the traffic is flowing along nicely. This causes others to be impatient and that’s when bad driving rears it’s ugly head; folk trying to get past other inconsiderate drivers.

I do believe driving is now becoming prohibitively expensive, but I think that the normal everyday driver is bearing the brunt whilst the less honest simply offset fuel cost by not taxing testing or insuring their cars. Bilking (making off without paying) is incredibly easy too, and fuel companies and garages do virtually sod all to stop it.

I’m convinced we need a swing back towards specialist traffic policing in great numbers. Folk are a lot less likely to offend when the chance if being caught goes up by a large degree.

Any traffic violation would see the suspension or removal of the passport as well as criminal proceedings were necessary.

Like a driving license? 😆